Rupert Murdoch on Web Search, No Assault on Google or Yahoo in the Works

A brief article on News.com.au titled: News Corp won't take on Google, reports that Mr. Murdoch and crew does not plan to get directly involved in the web search business taking on Google and Yahoo. These comments came in an interview that Rupert Murdoch gave to Newsweek..

Murdoch says:

"No way will we do a frontal assault on Google and Yahoo," he said.

He did tell Newsweek that by 2010 News Corp will earn a "a conservative one billion dollars" from its Internet interests.

We also read that Murdoch and Fox has spoken to Google, iTunes and others about making tv progrmas available online for purchase and download but has no immediate plans join some ABC, NBC, and CBS. Murdoch says:

It'll be a pretty serious piece of revenue for us someday, probably. We'll be into all these things, some quite original and some of what others are doing.

Newsweek:Google is being criticized for agreeing to censor itself in China. At home, it's fighting a federal subpoena for records on customer searches. What's your reaction?

Murdoch: All forms of government ultimately are not going to succeed in trying to control or censor the Internet. In China you can bar a certain word. But Google will still enable billions of people to get a great deal more knowledge and education, though it may not be political information. Still, all of that has to be good. China made a deliberate decision to let in the Internet. They felt it was necessary in joining the modern world. They are going to have to live with the consequences.

Newsweek:Google also has raised concerns about violating copyrights of TV shows and books. Your HarperCollins is a major publisher. Any concerns as a media owner?

Murdoch: HarperCollins and others will ensure that it doesn't infringe on copyrights. But I admire Google enormously. It's a great competitive force. The great thing about Google is the 56 [million] or 57 million ads that are coming from people who never advertised before?the local pizza store or shoemaker. There's been a huge democratization of both distribution and retailing.

The U.K. Supreme Court has granted permission in part for Google to appeal against a ruling relating to a dispute over the user information through cookies via use of the Apple Safari browser.
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